Anti-war writer and activist David Swanson discusses his new book Curing Exceptionalism, and picks apart the chauvinistic idea that the United States of America is the greatest country on the planet.
Anti-war writer and activist David Swanson discusses his new book Curing Exceptionalism, and picks apart the chauvinistic idea that the United States of America is the greatest country on the planet.
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4 Responses
David leaves some important truths out of the book. In discussing the Evian Conference (pp98-104), he repeats the trope that Franklin Roosevelt “chose not to make the necessary efforts to aid Jewish refugees, before, during, or after the conference.” On page 29 of “Against Our Better Judgement,” Alison Weir debunked that claim, “When FDR made efforts in 1938, 1943, and the British in 1947, to provide havens for refugees from the Nazis, Zionists opposed these projects because they did not include Palestine.” She backs that thoroughly in the footnotes, citing John W. Mulhall, CSP, and Alfred Lilienthal. Notably, the Zionists who opposed Bernard Baruch’s 1938 proposal included Brandeis and Frankfurter.
I realize David’s subject matter is American Exceptionalism, and brevity is important to capture a larger audience. It’s important to correct our own faults rather than point fingers at others, so perhaps he should not be expected to pull a more general discussion of being “chosen” by God, and the similarities between the US and Israel into the discussion, but I have a responsibility to correct misinformation.
As I emailed you, thanks, and while I can’t even make sense of 1947 here I’d love to hear what the efforts in 1938 and 1943 were.
Hello, David..
Interested to know if you received a reply from Bill Rood regarding efforts for refugees in 1938 and 1943..
Thanks!
I don’t think so.